Login / Signup

Free Access

Fifth Sunday Of Easter

Worship
Acts 7:55-60
1 Peter 2:2-10
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
John 14:1-14
Fifth Sunday of Easter - A
Beverly S. Bailey
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Series IV, Cycle A
Hymns
In You, Lord, I Have Put My Trust (PH183)
Christ Is Made The Sure Foundation (NCH400, UM559, PH416, 417)
Christ Is Our Cornerstone (CBH43)
Come, O Spirit, Dwell Among Us (PH129)
O Jesus, I Have Promised (NCH493)
Here, O God, Your Servants Gather (NCH72, CHB7, PH465)
Halleluiah! What A Savior (UM165)
Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life (NCH331)

Anthems
Step By Step, Worship And Praise, 132
When Stephen Full Of Power And Grace, Richard Peck, H. W. Gray, SATB
Dear Lord, Lead Me Day By Day, Jane Marshall, Unison
Celebrate The Good News, Tom Mitchell, CGA, 2--part

Call to Worship
Leader:You are a chosen race,
Men:A royal priesthood,
Women:A holy nation
All:God's own people,
Leader:In order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness
People:Into his marvelous light.
Leader:Once you were not a people,
People:But now we are God's people;
Leader:Once you had not received mercy,
People:But now we have received mercy.
All:Let us worship God.

Call to Confession
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Let us bring our confessions before the God who loves us. Let us pray.

Prayer of Confession
Wonderful God, we come to you today confessing our confusion over your word. We don't read the Bible very often, and we know we should. It offers us insight into what you would have us do in our everyday living. But sometimes the scripture passages are very difficult, and other times they are confusing. We read them and say, "What does this have to do with life in the twenty--first century?" or, "I just don't believe that Jesus meant to say that." Help us, God, to continue to find great meaning in this Holy Book. Forgive our doubts. Open our ears to hear what you would have us hear. Give us new confidence that you are talking to us through this ancient book. Help us to hear the stories with new energy, seeking wisdom in its pages. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon
Hear the good news! Jesus came to save us from our sins. What a great gift we have been given. Alleluia! Amen.

Scripture Readings
1 Peter 2:2--10: Have a choral speaking choir say this 1 Peter passage. Have each member of the choir hold a stone about the size of a fist. As they read the passage have members place a stone on the altar or communion table during the reading of verses 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - every time the word "stone" is mentioned. The stones could be flat so that they could be placed like an "Ebenezer," or if they are more round, just placed together. The rest of the decorations might include a larger rock (perhaps one of the lightweight, fake rocks about two feet tall), flowers, and a small church.

John 14:1--14: This passage is a discussion between Jesus and his followers. Three members of the choral speaking choir might step forward from the rest and have this conversation. It would be important that they memorize their lines. The speakers would be Jesus, Thomas, and Philip. Leave out the phrases "Jesus said to him," "Thomas said to him," and so on.

Call to Offering
God is our rock of refuge and our strong fortress. May our offering today help those around the world who need refuge and a strong fortress to protect them from war, hunger, and homelessness. The ushers will wait upon us for the morning offering.

Litany of Dedication
Leader:God is our rock
People:And our salvation.
Leader:Whom shall we fear?
People:Our fear is in our God, who has given us many blessings.
Leader:We offer these gifts to you, God. May they help others to know you, and find help in times of struggle.
People:We use these gifts in your name, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Benediction
Leader:The church's foundation is built upon God, the cornerstone.
People:We offer ourselves as a foundation of living stones.
Leader:Through your faith others can lean on you and begin their own faith journey.
People:Make us a cornerstone of faith. Christ is our cornerstone.
Leader.Have faith. Believe. Amen.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Easter 2
20 – Sermons
170+ – Illustrations / Stories
26 – Children's Sermons / Resources
24 – Worship Resources
20 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Easter 3
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Easter 4
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
33 – Children's Sermons / Resources
24 – Worship Resources
33 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: A sheep or lamb stuffed animal.

Note: For the best experience, when you ask the questions, take the time to draw the children out a bit and help them come up with answers. Make it more of a conversation if you can.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Let’s get started! (Hold the sheep in your lap as you continue.)

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Katy Stenta
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
George Reed
Mary Austin
For May 4, 2025:

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice… (vv. 11-12a)

Phillip Hasheider is a retired Wisconsin beef farmer and an award-winning author who was dead for six minutes and came back to tell about it. If you have ever thought about dying and wondered what it would be like, then Hasheider’s Six Minutes in Eternity is a book you will want to read.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

David Coffin
A medical worker is working long, hard, stress filled hours in an urban hospital setting. One day he or she is called into the administrator’s office to be terminated due to angering professionals in the upper echelon. The worker protests that it is, “My word against their word, why am I to be the scapegoat?” The administrator pulls rank! The worker is asked to turn in their badge and do not come into the premises again unless as a patient. The now unemployed medical worker still feels the calling to be a healer. So, they get a job at an alternative/natural health medicine store.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Bonnie Bates
Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
Martin Luther believed that the story of Paul’s conversion demonstrates that there is no need for special revelation. The reformer commented:

Our Lord God does not purpose some special thing for each individual person, but gives to the whole world — one person like the next — his baptism and gospel. (Complete Sermons, Vol.7, p.271)

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
I've recently spent several hours by the lakeside, for I've been in retreat this past week in the little village of Hemingford Grey, in Huntingdonshire. A great delight for me was to walk to the flooded gravel pits, sit on a bench in glorious sunshine, and watch the water birds. For me, that's a wonderful way to become very aware of the presence of God through the beauty of his created world. And sitting like that for several hours, doing nothing but watching and waiting, I can't help but absorb the peace which passes all understanding.

SermonStudio

Constance Berg
When Beth was a teenager, she lived on the streets. She smoked cigarettes and drank beer and her parents had said that she had to choose: her friends or her family. Beth chose her friends and lived from house to house and eventually in homeless shelters. She barely avoided being raped at one point. About six months of shelter-hopping was all she could take, and she found a shelter that sponsored her until she took the GED. They told her she was brilliant: she was just bored and dissatisfied with the status quo. The shelter supervisors suggested she look into community college.
James Evans
(For alternative approaches, see Epiphany 6/Ordinary Time 6, Cycle B; and Proper 9/Pentecost 7/Ordinary Time 14, Cycle C.)

The main theme of this psalm is captured profoundly in the movement within a single verse: "Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with morning" (v. 5). Casting life experiences between light and dark is not unique or novel, of course, but the poet's treatment of these themes offers some fertile ground for reflection.

Elizabeth Achtemeier
We have three different accounts of the conversion of Saul in the Gospel according to Luke (9:1-20; 22:6-16; 26:12-18). They differ in a few minor details, but essentially they are the same. In addition, Paul writes of his conversion in Galatians 1:11-16, and in 1 Corinthians 9:1 and 15:8-9, stating that at the time of his conversion on the road to Damascus, he saw the Lord. For Paul, that made him an apostle, equal to the twelve. An apostle, in Paul's thought, was one who had seen the risen Christ and had been sent to announce that good news.
Richard E. Gribble, CSC
Once in a far-off land, there was a great king whose dominion extended far and wide. His power and authority were absolute. One day, as events would happen, a young man, a commoner, committed a grave offense against the king. In response, the king and his counselors gathered together to determine what should be done. They decided that since the offense was so grave and had been committed by a commoner against someone so august as the king, the only punishment that would satisfy justice was death.

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL